Oxford University Lecture & Workshops
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From 9–13 November 2026, I will present a lecture and series of object-based workshops at Oxford University exploring how jewellery has expressed love, grief, devotion and remembrance from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century.
Drawing upon more than two decades of research through Art of Mourning, these sessions will bring the history of mourning and sentimental jewellery out of the archive and into students’ hands. Between 50 and 100 jewels from my personal collection will be presented for guided study, offering a rare opportunity to encounter these intimate historical objects at close range.
Students will examine the evolution of mourning jewellery from memento mori imagery, inscriptions and woven hair to neoclassical allegory, Victorian sentimentality and later forms of remembrance. By considering materials, craftsmanship, symbolism, wear and personal inscriptions, the workshops will reveal how jewellery communicated relationships that were often deeply private yet socially visible.
Together, the lecture and handling sessions will demonstrate that these jewels are more than relics of death. They are material records of love, identity, memory and the enduring human desire to remain connected across absence.
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